SOBORNOST St. Orthodox Church (301) 638-5035 Church 4419 Leonardtown Road Waldorf, MD 20601 Rev. Father Edgington, Pastor (703) 532-8017 [email protected] www.apostlethomas.org American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Wed: Moleben to the 6:00 AM Friday: Moleben to the Cross 6:00 AM Saturday: Confession 5:00 PM, Great Vespers 5:30 PM Sunday: Matins (Orthros) 8:45 AM Children’s Sunday School 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM. August 25, 2019 – 10th Sunday After | Transfer of the Relics of Apostle Bartholomew | Apostle Titus (LXX) The Transfer of the Relics of the Apostle Bartholomew Was at the end of the VI Century. His apostolic activity and martyr's end are remembered by the Church on 11 June. The Apostle Bartholomew suffered for in Armenian Albano (now Baku) in the year 71, where also his holy relics were situated. From the relics of the holy apostles occurred numerous miracles, and many of the unbelieving were converted to Christ. Under the emperor Anastasios (491-518) the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew were transferred into the newly constructed city of Anastasiopolis (or Dareia) and remained there until the end of the 6th Century. When the city of Anastasiopolis was captured by the Persian emperor Khozroes, Christians took up the chest with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew and fled with it to the shores of the Black Sea. Having overtaken them, pagan-priests threw the chest with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew into the sea. Together with it, 4 other chests were thrown into the sea containing the relics of the holy Martyrs Papian, Lucian, Gregory and Akakios. By the power of God the chests did not sink into the depths of the sea, but rather accomplished a miraculous floating upon the waves and reached Italy. The chest

with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew came to land at the island of Lipari, and the remaining chests continued their journey and came to land at various places in Italy. The chest with the relics of the Martyr Papian halted at Sicily, the Martyr Lucian – at Messina, the Martyr Gregory – at Calabria, and the Martyr Akakios – at Asculusa. The arrival of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew was revealed to the of the island of Lipari -- Agathon, who went with clergy to the shores of the sea, took up the chest from the waters and solemnly transferred it to church. From the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew there flowed out myrrh, giving healing for various illness. The holy relics remained in the church of the island of Lipari until the middle of the IX Century, when the island was captured by pagans. Christian merchants took up the holy relics of the Apostle Bartholomew and transferred them to the city of Beneventum, where they were received with great veneration and placed in the main church of the city. (from holytrinityorthodox.com) The from the 70 Titus was a native of the island of , the son of an illustrious pagan. In his youthful years he studied attentively at Hellenistic philosophy and the ancient poets. Preoccupied by the sciences, Titus led a virtuous life, not devoting himself to the vices and passions characteristic of the majority of pagans. He preserved his virginity, as the Priest-martyr Ignatios the God-bearer (comm. 20 December) testified about him. For such a manner of life the Lord did not leave him without His help. At age twenty in a dream Titus heard a voice, suggesting to him to abandon the Hellenistic wisdom, not providing salvation for his soul, but rather to seek out that which would save him. After this dream Saint Titus waited still another year, since it was not actually like a command, but it guided him to familiarize himself with the teachings of the prophets of God. The first that he happened to read was the Book of the Prophet . Having opened it to the 47th Chapter, he was struck by the words, speaking as it were about his own spiritual condition. When news reached Crete about the appearance in Palestine of a Great Prophet, and about the great miracles worked by Him, the governor of the island of Crete, an uncle of Titus by birth, sent him there. This Prophet was the Lord Christ Himself, incarnated of the Most Holy Mary and having come into the world for the redemption of the race of mankind from its oppression of the original sin. At Jerusalem Saint Titus beheld the Lord; he heard His preaching and believed in Him. He was a witness of the suffering on the Cross and death of the Savior, His glorious Resurrection and Ascent to Heaven. On the day of Pentecost the future disciple heard, standing in the crowd, how the 12 Apostles, – after the descent upon them of the Holy Spirit, spoke in various languages among which was the Cretan language (: 11). Saint Titus accepted Baptism from the Apostle Paul

and became his closest disciple. He accompanied the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys, time and again he fulfilled entrusted tasks, was involved in the establishing of new churches, and was with him in Jerusalem. Saint Titus was numbered among the 70 Disciples and was ordained by the Apostle Paul as bishop of Crete. Around the year 65, not long before the second imprisonment, the Apostle Paul dispatched a pastoral to his selected one (Tit. 1-3). When the Apostle Paul was taken like a criminal to Rome to stand trial before Caesar, Saint Titus for a time left his flock in Crete and went to Rome to be of service to his spiritual father. After the death by martyrdom of the Apostle Paul, the Disciple Titus returned to the chief city of Crete – Gortyn. The Disciple Titus peacefully guided his flock and toiled at enlightening the pagans with the light of faith in Christ. He was granted by the Lord the gift of wonderworking. During a time of one of the pagan feasts in honor of the goddess Diana, Titus preached to a gathered crowd of pagans. When he saw, that they would not listen to him, he prayed to the Lord, so that the Lord Himself would show to the mistaken people the non-entity of idols. By the prayer of the Disciple Titus, the idol of Diana fell down and shattered before the eyes of all. Another time the Disciple Titus prayed, that the Lord would not permit the completion of a temple under construction raised up to Zeus, and it collapsed. By such miracles the Disciple Titus brought many to faith in Christ. Having enlightened with the light of faith the surrounding regions, the Disciple Titus died peacefully in the extreme old age of 97. At death his face shone like the sun. (from holytrinityorthodox.com)

Today’s Epistle Lesson – St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 4:9-16 Brethren, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the . Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

Today’s Gospel Lesson – Saint Matthew 17:14-23 At that time, when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. A Word From the Holy Fathers Sometimes our soul grows despondent at the huge swarm of its sins and temptations, and says, ‘Our hope is gone and we are lost’ (Ezek. 37:11; LXX). Yet God, who does not despair of our salvation, says to us: ‘You shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord’ (Ezek. 37:6). To the soul that doubts how it can ever give birth to Christ through great acts of holiness, these words are said: ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you’ (Luke 1:35). Where the Holy Spirit is present, do not expect any more the sequence and laws of nature and habit. The Holy Spirit whom we worship is all-powerful, and in an astonishing way He brings into existence what does not as yet exist within us. The nous that was previously defeated He now makes victorious: for the Paraclete who in compassion comes upon us from above ‘is higher than all’ (John 3:31), and He raises us above all natural impulses and demonic passions. Struggle to preserve unimpaired the light that shines within your nous. If passion begins to dominate you when you look at things, this means that the Lord has left you in darkness; He has dropped the reins with which He was guiding you, and the light of your eyes is gone from you (cf. Ps. 38:10). Yet even if this happens, do not despair or give up, but pray to God with the words of : ‘O send out Your light and Your truth to me in my gloom, for You are the salvation of my countenance and my God’ (cf. Ps. 43:3, 5); ‘You shall send

forth Your Spirit and they shall be created; and You shall renew the face of the earth’ (Ps. 104: 30; LXX). Blessed is he who, with a hunger that is never satisfied, day and night throughout this present life makes prayer and the psalms his food and drink, and strengthens himself by reading of God’s glory in Scripture. Such communion will lead the soul to ever-increasing joy in the age to come. Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death. For it is written, ‘If a righteous man falls seven times’ – that is, repeatedly throughout his life – seven times ‘shall he rise again’ (Prov. 24: 16; LXX). – St. John of Karpathos Also Commemorated Today: St. John of Karpathos St. Nikodimos the Hagiorite says in the Philokalia that he has little information about St. John of Karpathos: "It is not known when he was active or where he underwent his ascetic struggles." Our knowledge today is only a little more extensive thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan of Karpathos and Kasos in the mid-1980's, when he sought to include him in the official list of of the Orthodox Church with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. August 25th was designated as the feast day of Saint John of Karpathos in 1985, and a Divine Service was composed for the celebration. The primary source of information about St. John of Karpathos comes from the Bibliotheca (201) of St. Photios the Great. Presumably John came from the island of Karpathos, situated between Crete and Rhodes. It is thought that he lived there as a monk in a coenobium, and then became bishop of the island in the late seventh century; he may be identical with a Bishop John of the island ‘Karpathion’ who signed the acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod in 680-681 (Mansi XI, 653E, 693B), but this is hypothetical. What is certain was that he was deeply knowledgeable of Holy Scripture and experienced in Hesychastic/Neptic spirituality. The monks in India, to whom his two writings are addressed in the Philokalia, were perhaps living in Ethiopia. His primary aim is to offer encouragement to those tempted to abandon the monastic life, but are just as encouraging for all Christians to live the authentic Christian life amid temptations. Every church on the island of Karpathos today contains at least one icon or fresco of Saint John of Karpathos, and there is a large icon of his in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Karpathos, where his memory is celebrated every year on August 25th. (from johnsanidopoulos.com)

Sermon Against the Pogroms Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky of Kiev, delivered Apr 20, 1903 We greet one another with the kiss of peace, and even the unmerciful and miserly find pleasure in showing love toward their neighbor. "Christ is risen and life springs forth" as the God-fearing voice of Chrysostom proclaims. But amidst such comforting circumstances in our Christian life, sorrowful, shameful news reaches us that in the city of Kishenev, on the very day of Christ's resurrection, on the day of forgiveness and reconciliation, there occurred the cruel inhuman massacre of unfortunate Jews. At the very time when in the holy temples there was being sung, "Let us embrace one another and say 'brother' even to those who hate us...," yes at that very time, outside the church walls, a drunken, beastly mob broke into Jewish homes, robbing the peaceful inhabitants and tearing human beings into pieces. They threw their bodies from windows into the streets and looted Jewish stores. A second crazed, greed filled mob rushed in to steal the clothing and jewelry from the bloodied corpses, seizing everything they could lay hands on. Like Judas, these robbers enriched themselves with silver drenched in blood - the blood of these hapless human sacrifices! O God! How did Your goodness endure such an insult and offense on the day of Your saving passion and glorious resurrection! You endured Your terrible struggle so that we would be dead to sin and live in You (Rm. 6:11), but here they cruelly and in a most beastly manner slaughtered those who are Your relatives according to the flesh, who, though they did not recognize You are still dear to Your heart as You said Yourself not long before You suffered in the flesh, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to you; how often have I longed to gather your children as a hen gathers its chicks under its wing, and you desired it not" (Matt. 23:37). O brethren, I wish to make you understand this so that you would comprehend that even today the Jewish tribe is dear to God's heart, and realize that God is angered by anyone who would offend that people. Lest anyone suppose that we are selecting words from the sacred scripture with partiality, let me cite for you the words of that man whom the Jews hated above all men. This is the man whom a company of the Jews vowed neither to eat nor drink until they had killed him - Apostle Paul (:12). Hearken to the words of God's Spirit speaking through him: "I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing my witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God,

and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (Rm. 9:1-5). Startling and frightening words! Did you truly write them, Paul, you who came to love Christ, who began to live in Christ as Christ lived in you? For whose sake did you consent to be separated from Christ? Was it not you, Paul, who wrote the lines preceding this verse: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rm. 8:38-39)? Even the angels could not have done that which you would voluntarily have done for the sake of the salvation of the Jews - those who were your enemies, your betrayers, they who beat you with a whip, chained you in prison, exiled you and condemned you to death. Behold brethren and marvel: these words of the Apostle Paul are spoken concerning the Jews, even though they were opposed to Christ's faith. Lest your perplexity continue, that same apostle and martyr explained in the following chapter, the reason for his love of the house of Israel! "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (10:1-2). The words are confirmed in our own day by the life of the Jews. Observe for yourselves their dedication to their law, their preservation of the Sabbath, their faithfulness to their spouses, their love of work and their love toward their children, whom they encourage toward obedience. There was a time not so long ago when Christians excelled them in all these things, but in our present corrupt and degenerate age, we must look with regret upon all these qualities of the way of life of pious Jews. In our cities, the majority of Christians no longer distinguish between ordinary days, feast days and fasts, but have fallen into negligence and a loose life. It is true that there are also some like this among the Jews, but from whom did they learn such a disorderly path? Alas, from those whose forefathers confess Christ, from European and Russian nihilists who, like toads, swarm over our land, whose books and newspapers poison the air around us like the plague and cholera. The Karaim and Talmud Jews must be respected, but woe to both those nihilists from among the Jews and from among us, who are corrupting both family and society, who sow the seed of their contagion among Russian and Polish youth, and who are the main cause of the hatred toward the descendants of the holy forefathers and

prophets beloved by the Lord. I am not speaking about respect for these nihilists among the Jews. Listen as the blessed apostle further explains the reason for his warm, self-denying love toward this people; hear how he explains their unbelief and obduracy toward Christ: "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy" (11:11). If the Jews had all accepted Christ's faith, then the heathens who despised the Jews would have rejected it. If the Jews had all believed, then we, brethren, would not have become Christians, but would still be worshipping Jupiter and Venus or Perun and Volass as our pagan ancestors did. Be cautious, therefore, about slandering the unbelief of the Jews; rather grieve over it and pray that the Lord may be revealed to them. Do not be at enmity with them, but respect the apostolic word about the Israelite root and the branches that broke from it: "Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high- minded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, take heed lest he also do not spare you." (11:20-21) O Christians, fear to offend the sacred, even though rejected, tribe. God's recompense will fall upon those evil people who have shed blood which is of the same race as the God-man, his most pure mother, apostles and prophets. Do not suppose that this blood was sacred only in the past, but understand that even in the future, reconciliation to the divine nature awaits them (2 Pt. 1:4), as Christ's chosen vessel further testifies: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written. 'There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from : For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins'" (11:25-27). Let the savage know that they have slain future Christians who were yet in the loins of the present day Jews; let them know that they have shown themselves to be bankrupt opponents of God's providence, persecutors of a people beloved by God, even after its rejection (11:28). How sinful is enmity against Jews, based on an ignorance of God's law, and how shall it be forgiven when it arises from abominable and disgraceful impulses. The robbers of the Jews did not do so as revenge for opposition to Christianity, rather they lusted for the property and possessions of others. Under the thin guise of zeal for the faith, they served the demon of covetousness. They resembled Judas who betrayed Christ with a kiss while blinded with the sickness of greed, but these murderers, hiding themselves behind Christ's name, killed His kinsmen according to the flesh in order to rob them.

When have we beheld such fanaticism? In Western Europe during the Middle Ages, heretics and Jews were shamefully executed, but not by mobs intent on robbing them. How can one begin to teach people who stifle their own conscience and mercy, who snuff out all fear of God and, departing from the holy temple even on the bright day of Christ's Resurrection, a day dedicated to forgiveness and love, but which they rededicate to robbery and murder? O believers in God and His Christ! Fear the Lord's judgment in behalf of His people. Fear to offend the inheritors of the promise, even though they have been renounced. We are not empowered to judge them for their unbelief; the Lord and not we will judge them. We, looking upon their zeal even though it is "not according to knowledge" (Rm. 10:2) would do better to contemplate their fathers: the righteous , , Jacob, Joseph and , David and and , who rose to heaven still in the flesh. Look upon Isaiah who accepted voluntary death for the faith, who stopped the mouths of beasts in a lions' den, and the Maccabbee martyrs who died with joy for the hope of resurrection. Let us not beat, slay and rob people, but soften their hardness toward Christ and Christians by means of our own fulfillment of the law of God. Let us multiply our prayer, love, fasting and alms and our concern for those who are suffering, let us be zealous about the true essence of the faith; let our light so shine before people that they may glorify our heavenly father and Christ. Let us overcome unbelief and impiousness among Christians first, and then concern ourselves with the Jews: "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heavens must receive until the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (:20- 21). (from orthodoxyandworldreligions.com)

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In Your Prayers – Please Remember… His All-Holiness Ecumenical BARTHOLOMEW, His Eminence Metropolitan GREGORY, Fr. Joseph & Family, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi of Aleppo, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo, His Grace Bishop Neofitos of Nyeri and Mt. Kenya, Fr. John & Pani Betty Jean Baranik, Presbytera Katie Baker and family, Dn. Steve Hall, Santiago Alzugaray, Jeffrey Carey, Tatyana and Slava Chumak & family, Xenia Chilkowich, Jon Church, Ramius Connour, Curtis Cooper, Luke Cooper, Tina Crull, Mary Diane David, Ron Dominiecki, Linda A. Georgiev, Heather Himler, John Homick, Cameron Houk, Helen Janowiak, John M. Janowiak, Tucker Karl and family, Robert & Pam Karpin, Andrew Kinn, Kopan family, Brian, Helen, and Luke Mahony, Valentina Makowelski, Susan Matula, Anna Meinhold, Dn. Henry Middleton, David & Kathryn Newman, Bobby Nutter & Family, Henry & Lisa Osborne, Westin Perry & Parents, John Reece, Mary Reed, Chris & Kaitlin Rixey, Jerry Von Ronne, Anne Rosario, James, Theodore and Christina Ristas, Samson Family, Sharon Sheptak, Shostko, Bernie Takabayashi & family, Dawn & Faith Ulmschneider, Lydia Vita, Christine, Marshall, Nathaniel, Subdcn. Nectarios and Ia, the Syrian Christians displaced by war, Mother Virginia Marie and the Carmelite Nuns of Port Tobacco, and all those in need of our prayers. (Please advise Fr. Joseph of changes.)